The Dark Tide Rises

AK510-37 Cool Summer End Week 1
[Charon Guiding, Shale Resting, Cycles Watching]

Shaleday

Tim, Ethan, John and Bob are all sitting in Joe's Tavern supping some cider and swapping stories with the villagers about recent events in Stormwatch. The eviction of the lizardfolk from the village and the possible retaliation is foremost on their minds.The Druid Appleby feels a storm rolling in from the coast but something more sinister is abroad in the wilds of Woodhaven. Bob and the bees sense it too another presence, malevolent, evil and hungry. Tim senses the hunger of Craos, Fallen God of Gluttony in the divine harmony of the balance. Ethan patiently tries to explain to the Ibixians how he is not a heretic for converting from Neart to Fileadh. The Ibixian clearly thinks he's mad.A scream pierces the air and Joe reflexively wraps his hands around the Tavern's only glass drinking vessel, to shield it from harm.

The heroes are out of their seats and into the lashing rain of the Cool Summer storm before the villagers can react.Little can be seen through the driving rain and the ground is treacherous underfoot. They head for the source of the scream, the riverbank, near the makeshift jetty. Jasmine Farmer is standing at the end of the Jetty, frozen with dread. A dark tide has risen from out of the swamp and is rushing towards the village on thousands of tiny legs, with fangs dripping with blood.The onrushing cloak of horror is a sea of swarming swamp striders. Vicious black beetles, half a foot long with arrow-sharp bloodsucking mandibles. The clicking and splashing of their millions of feet is like the crash of waves on a thunderstruck beach.

Before they can react the horror of the insect plague is upon them. The entire village is engulfed. Houses are covered. The muddy streets are alive and writhing and boiling with insect bodies. The insects' ravenous appetites draw them towards the warm living blood beating in the heroes bodies. The greatest mass of the swarm attacks the closest targets so the villagers huddling indoors near their smoky fires are temporarily safe. The bravest of them can fend off the handful of beetles falling in on top of them. The brave, slow or foolish trapped outside in the heart swarm are not so lucky. The heroes are almost instantly covered from head to foot in a thick black shroud of beetles. Thousands of teeth biting into soft flesh between armour joints and under clothing. No inch of skin is safe. Each deep slice into their flesh starts to pour forth blood and the beetles, in a lethal frenzy, suckle on it like demon children. The pain is intense. Jasmine Farmer cries out is terror and agony. Panic seizes her as she falls into the mud, being devoured alive.

The Heroes of Woodhaven are made of sterner stuff and although they are filled with revulsion, they are quite used to horror and pain. Over the chittering clamour, they calmly discuss they best approach to dealing with the dark menace, attempting to strip their flesh. Their reasonably effective attempts to frantically brush off the insects, helps them to survive where a lesser man would be consumed. Arch Vedic Tim Baphenslayer Tanner, Protector of Woodhaven, selflessly puts his own life in danger to rescue Jasmine from the insects. He heals her bloody wounds and placing himself between the insects and the terrified woman. Jasmine flees. The swarm closes around Tim. The Druid momentarily shakes off the swamp strider swarm and calls on the power of Naduir. A creature of fire is summoned from another realm and Appleby sets it on the swarm. The creature burns fiercely, but the rain is heavy on the ground muddy. A hiss of steam and the scorching of the earth follows the creature as it burns it's way through the swarm. Appleby is pleased. Ethan Fochlachan Namer, Cei-Liur of Fileadh and Namer of Woodhaven, spies Deputy Chief Constable Orin Smith bravely defending the village under a mountain of beetles and mud. Orin's pain is intense and his gushing wounds are about to overcome him. Ethan charges the mountain of beetles and scatters them. He pushes Orin away from danger and sends him staggering to the relative safety of the Tavern. The swarm closes around Ethan. Bob Charmer, the Abeil Ambassador is no stranger to swarms. He calls on the power of his own swarm to attack this new menace. Bees sting the beetles and the beetles carve up the bees. The carnage is impressive but the bee swarm will not last long against the dark tide.

The sea of beetles inevitably submerges the heroes once again under a wave of muddy black bodies. All goes dark under the swarming bodies. Pain is everywhere. Teeth and claws rip flesh. Hollow suckers pierce veins. Blood flows freely. The insects drink. The Heroes are already beginning to feel the weakness of blood loss. The Druid debates the merits of wind over fire and casually frees himself of his painful insect coat. He creates a ball of fire and hurls it at the nearest mound of beetles. Hundreds of them are superheated and explode as the flaming sphere rolls over them, hissing and scorching the earth. The fire creature continues his attack scattering beetles before him as he tries to protect his master. The beetles flees before him as his touch is searing death. Ethan having attracted Orin's attackers is covered in painful bleeding wounds as he shakes off the swarm and sings to Fileadh and Tine, the Song of The Burning Ring of Fire. He uses The Song to describe the flames and the village and the changes music subtly to add a note of fire to each harmonic. All flame in the village burns hotter and more fiercely than before and the fire creature glows brightly. Tim and Bob throw vials of alchemists fire at the swarm. The vials explode with considerable heat and kill many insects but the swarm is everywhere and the rain is so heavy that they have only a minor effect. Meanwhile Ivellios is at the other side of the main square giving a master class to his apprentice Khranen in the best application of fire magic. Tin-Tan the Ashrat hates the rain with a passion but is assisting. An opportunity to lash out with his flames is too good to miss. Joe of Kell emerges from the Tavern with a mass of strange looking vials in a pair of makeshift bandoleers. One of his eyebrows is missing and the side of his head is smoking. His experiments have been going well. The Ibixians have emerged from the arena to support them. Their weapons however have little impact on the hundreds of thousands of beetles and they are soon engulfed in black bodies and covered in blood. The goat-like roar-bleating can be heard all around the battlefield.

Again the beetles flood through the village and cover all. Ethan, John, Bob and Tim are all engulfed in pain once again. Blood covers everything and spatters the ground from many wounds. Still they do not falter. Tim shakes off the swarm but stays nearby, offering himself as bait to the swarm to protect the weak. He trusts in his companions to destroy the swarm with fire. He calls upon Croi to heal him and she closes his wounds. Appleby, forces down his pain and fear and momentarily escapes the insects. He creates another flaming sphere and it burns as fiercely as the others thanks to Ethan's song. Appleby's fire is beginning to take it's toll as thousands of beetles are incinerated. But the dark tide rolls on. Bob throws a tanglefoot bag at the closet beetle-mound and they are covered in a mass of sticky strands. Most are trapped but they set to work trying to free each other. Ethan barely manages to escape from under another wave and again calls on the Song. This time he describes his own body and alters the music to describe it as healthy. His wounds close and the flow of blood stops. Jo starts throwing vials. He shouts 'Fire!' an instant before the vial hits the ground. It explodes with an ear splitting bang and a blinding flash. Beetles, mud and blood are flung across the village in the explosion. Thousands of them are killed. The wizards and the Ibixians look impressed in spite of themselves. Jo grins like a madman and prepares another vial.

The Battle rages on. A cycle forms. Waves of bloodsucking beetles rally and wash into the village attacking all and are then driven off by flame and the power of the Gods before they wash in again. Only the power of the Gods keep the heroes alive. Appleby attacks with fire and blows the insect away with powerful gusts of wind. But he is eventually overcome he takes the form of a tree to evade them. Bob uses his nature magic to entangle the swarm. Most of the village is choked with writhing plants that press up through the mud and trap the insects. Then he binds the Woodhaven and Honeyglen hives together with the power of his will and the swarm increases in power. It swells with new arrivals who ignore their hatred of rain and attack the invading swarm that has entered their territory. Jo throws vials all around the village and explosions cause serious damage to both the sea of insects and the village itself. He doesn't seem to notice. His wives keep an eye on him to ensure that he doesn't get out of hand. Ivellios is protected from the swarm by a shield of Ibixians and he decimates them with sheets of intense flames from his outstretched hands. His apprentice attempts to master the magic from a scroll eventually creates a modest sheet of flame. Ivellios tells him that he has a long way to go before he can attempt to match the 'best character in the village'. The Ibixians are forced to heal themselves use magic to combat the swarm, much to their disgust. Ethan shapes his music to form another creature of flame to bolster the failing fires that are hissing and smoking in the rain. Then Tim calls upon Tine for aid and composes an new verse for The Book Of Creation. Tine is impressed by his effort and rewards him by destroying the heart of the swarm with a massive pillar of flame. Inspired by this they all chant a song of praise to Tine, lead by Tim. Their prayer is rewarded and the fires in the village burn with an even greater intensity. The fire creatures that were fading burn with a primal incandescence and they grow in size and strength and heat. Now patches of clear ground and beginning to show as the flames burn through the entangling plants and the trapped beetles.

The fires continue. Explosions from Joe. Great fireballs and fans from Ivellios. Flaming spheres and fire creatures from Appleby and Ethan. All empowered by Tim's prayers. The insects, trapped by Bob's plants are doomed and soon they are all engulfed in flame. Only a handful of the beetles survive to float back into the river.
Dripping with blood and covered in smoking fragments burnt beetle flesh, they all hobble to the temple to give thanks and receive healing. The Ibixians seek to atone for their use of healing and magic during a battle.

Then the question arises. Who sent them? Is the Wild Marsh Druid really that powerful?'
Maybe we should build that wall,' suggests Martin Farmer.
They all agree.
Ethan raises an intact eyebrow, 'About bloody time', he thinks.